How Old is Earth? 6,000 Yrs or 6 Billion Yrs...Or?

Originally posted by jessejamesxx
If you look at the 6 Days of Creation literally, the earth was created 3 days before the sun was. How can God create something in exactly a day
increment without the sun being involved?

edit on 16-11-2012 by jessejamesxx because: (no reason given)

Are you saying he needed some light to work by? Maybe he got half way thru and realized he didn't have a flash light?

I don't talk to my mom's mother because of how she tried to indoctrinate me when I was young with this stuff.
I never forgave her really.. She went ON AND ON about it all in entirety as if it were true.

She sincerely and utterly believed the Earth to be 6000 years old.
But I was a kid who loved dinosaurs, so I mean I felt the truth deep down obviously.

I am not a Christian but am asking this question out of curiosity and not rudeness. Maybe I should have made that clear in the OP.

Peace

There is no other explanation. They believe the bible word for word and believe fossils and such are put there as a way to "test their faith."

Like I said, borderline retardation.

The bible is a very cool book. People who just read it literally thinking they understand it are gonna end up on the dualistic hate road. They ones
who really look behind the text and think about will find something there. Maybe even a egoloss an liberation of small mind (Christ conciousness is
the term in the bible). But then process of Christ conciousness have existed long before Jesus walked on this planet and will continue after Jesus is
totally forgotten by humans. The messenger was never important and idols even less. Love your brothers and sisters like yourself because you are all
connected to each other. Jesus did know the nondualistic truth of reality but it seems one of the apostles taught the exact opposite doctrine.

You gotta love people trying to make everything they read in the bible fit when they are reading both an instruction on how to become
egoless/nondualistic and the opposite to become small minded and petty. The church has pushed the anti-Christ conciouss message harder than the
spiritual message and that is why some Christians are so hateful. They see antichrists everywhere but the true antichrist are their own
indocrination.

God do have a funny sense of humour sometimes. Damned by people of faith if you do not belive in a religious view. Thrown back in the pool as
unevolved by god if you can't raise above the indoctrination.

Those who seek will find their way home. You can walk to the same location from many different directions.

I am not a Christian but am asking this question out of curiosity and not rudeness. Maybe I should have made that clear in the OP.

Peace

There is no other explanation. They believe the bible word for word and believe fossils and such are put there as a way to "test their faith."

Like I said, borderline retardation.

I've been both a Christian, and a Creationist, for over 25 years, and never in my life have I heard anybody say that fossils are put there to "test
our faith".

The key point is this.
The issue is not one of evidence, but one of interpretation of that evidence. The difference between creationists and evolutionists is not a
difference in the evidence that is accepted by those communities, but in how that evidence is interpreted. For the creationist, the evidence points
toward one particularly significant event in many cases: a global flood (as per the story of Noah).

Because many evolutionists do not accept this event as factual, their interpretation of the evidence is vastly different. But the point here is this:
evolutionists interpret the evidence according to their framework of belief. Creationists interpret the evidence according to theirs. So ultimately,
it doesn't actually come down to the science on the issue - both sides have valid scientific arguments for what they put forward - but the theories
and motivations behind the science.

Let me give you an example.

The Grand Canyon.
We can take a look at the evidence (the canyon itself), and an evolutionist will tell you that the canyon formed gradually, over millions, even
billions of years, and will point to the evidence of the various strata within the rock to support their argument. The river at the bottom of the
canyon, they argue, wore down the rock over billions of years to form the canyon that we know today.

A creationist, on the other hand, would tell you that... while there is SOME truth to the evolutionary theory, this actually happened over a much
shorter time frame. During the flood, not only was there an exponentially greater volume of water, but the Bible tells us that the earth itself broke
open and "great springs" came forth from the deep.

Now, the point here is that both the evolutionist and the creationist are going to be able to present you with valid, scientifically plausible views
for what they believe. The question is, what underpins those beliefs?

For the creationist, the underpinning belief is that God created the world in six days.

For the evolutionist, the underpinning belief is that the world took billions of years to form into what we see today. This belief is necessitated by
a parallel belief that life itself cannot form without billions of years of chance, and the perfect cohesion of numerous variables enabling that life
to form.

This is exactly why the Creation/Evolution argument will never be resolved, too...

because ultimately, it isn't an argument over the science. It isn't an argument over what the evidence suggests. It's an argument over how to
interpret that evidence, fueled by existing a priori beliefs about how everything came into being... and until that argument is resolved, there will
be no agreement.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the
Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God
called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

I always wondered how much "time" could have transpired from the beginning of verse 1 and the end of verse 2, before we get to the actual creation
and the days are counted. If God is infinite a need to establish the amount of time passed would be irrelevant to him.

Originally posted by Awen24
I've been both a Christian, and a Creationist, for over 25 years, and never in my life have I heard anybody say that fossils are put there to "test
our faith".

I'm starting to think this is a line Christians use when the heat is felt...

Growing up that's all every Christian ever talked about when dinosaurs were in the same sentence.
No dinosaurs, fossils are placed by Satan as a way of testing your faith.

25 years and you've never heard it? I'm 22 and I heard it FOR YEARS.

...how on earth are dinosaurs a challenge to the Christian faith?
There's no conflict there, they fit perfectly into a creationist time frame. Adam and Eve co-existed with dinosaurs. There you have it. There's
evidence around the world - footprints of humans alongside dinosaur prints etc. - and even today we see reports of dinosaurs from around the world -
Mkole Mbembe in the Congo, pterosaurs in South America, etc.

From a Biblical perspective, dinosaurs would have died out in a post-flood world...
prior to the flood, the earth had a much greater volume of water in the atmosphere. In fact, the Bible doesn't tell us that it ever rained BEFORE
the flood, but that a heavy dew watered the earth. Feasibility studies have been done into these things; there is nothing inconsistent or
scientifically implausible about it.

"fossils were put there to test our faith" is both ridiculous, and a cop-out. The Bible tells Christians to be "always ready to give an answer".
A rubbish line like that is more akin to burying your head in the sand and pretending that contrary theories don't exist.

Young earth creationists should stay away from bananas because bananas underwent
selective breeding by humans to arrive at where it is today--a perfect fit for the hand. This
fact evinces more support for evolution than creation.

The bible never states the earth is 6000 years old. The idea for this comes from a researcher
who studied the chronological ancestry of humans that is provided in the bible. He added up
the lifetimes and came to the (irrelevant) conclusion that the earth is 6000 years old---rather than
the (relevant) conclusion that humans have been around (on earth) for 6000 years

The earth (and all of Sol's planets--hello Neptune, sorry 'bout the demotion) was formed by
coalescing clouds of dust over a long period of time. It was an arbitrary process whereby
one forming planet could be smashed by another forming planet and have all the
pieces scattered out into space only to have gravity bring them together again.

The current theory of our moon is that it was created by (the last) cosmic smashing of
our earth and another forming planet which occurred with just enough force to separate
a large portion from the whole without spinning it out into space and this small piece became
a satellite of the larger planet.

So God said let there be light and the Big Bang happened, right? Nope it is more likely that
God said let there be matter and energy...and light occurred as a consequence some time
later.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2 Peter 3:8

So on that basis the creation could be interpreted as taking 7000 years - not 7 days.

Then you have all those individuals like Adam and Seth and Enoch who lived for about 900+ years.

Then you have Cain freaking out after he killed Abel and insisting he be marked so that he would not be killed by the "others" - Hmmm, who were these
others then and when were they created?

Then Cain marries - where did she come from?

And I could go on and on about biblical accounts which can verify the earth being inhabited for a very long time.

What I'm getting at is that to me, it is evident that the bible is a geneological record focusing on 2 individuals and running from there - look at
the first book of the new testament - why do they need to prove Jesus's and Marys bloodline all the way back to Adam and Eve?

I'm a Christian, a catholic.

The earth is ALOT older than 6000 years.

Or is Slayer pulling my leg with this latest post yesterday about the 500,000 year-old spear tips - I think not.

The whole...God created the Earth in 6 days...thing was written by a Human Being. Other things in the Bible that are OBVIOUS writings by man
are...GOD created Man in HIS image...why would GOD need a Physical Body and why is GOD Male as why would a GOD have SEX ORGANS?

The Bible is a nice group of STORIES written as a way to TEACH MORAL LESSONS. There are MANY mistranslations in the Bible as one BIG one is that
MOSES CROSSED THE REED SEA....HE DID NOT PART THE RED SEA. The Vatican has admitted to this error in translation. The REED SEA is a marshy tidal
area that connects the RED SEA to the MED. SEA.

Moses crossed this area during low tide and as the Egyptian Army soon followed it was caught in the very quickly rising tide and was SWAMPED.
Egyptian Chariots have been found in DIGS of this area. When the Vatican was asked why it does not change the Bible to state the truth the Vatican
replied that although it verifies the Parting of the Red Sea as an incorrect translation of past events...it has no intention of changing the Bible as
this could...CONFUSE THE FAITHFUL.

The EARTH is ANCIENT in the extreme and is over 6 Billion Years Old. Human Ancestors have been in existence for over 5 Million Years. The previous
form of Humanity...Cro Magnon...looked almost identical to Homo Sapiens. Our Ancestor had a Larger Brain than we did...looked like us...was a bit
taller on average and were considered to be very close in their mental abilities. We came from them or Evolved from them. If a Cro Magnon was in a
Police Lineup with 7 other Homo Sapiens...you could not tell the difference...but they lived 60 to 70 Thousand Years Ago.

The Dinosaurs became EXTINCT 65 Million Years ago. — The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, which wiped out the dinosaurs and more than half of
species on Earth, was caused by a Massive Asteroid which was about 15 Kilometers across. This is just one of many extinction level events that have
occurred in Earths VERY LONG HISTORY. Split Infinity

God creating the universe and evolution is not on opposite side of a spectrum and you can be a creationist and still belive in big bang. But you can
have it hard beliving the translated bible is the whole scientific understanding of what happened and still belive big bang.

(1) that part of the solar day of twenty-four hours which is light Gen 1:5,14 Jn 9:4 11:9.

(2) such a day, set apart for some distinctive purpose, as, "day of atonement" (Lev 23.27); "day of judgment" Mt 10:15.

(3) a period of time, long or short, during which certain revealed purposes of God are to be accomplished, as "day of the Lord."

[2] evening

The use of "evening" and "morning" may be held to limit "day" to the solar day; but the frequent parabolic use of natural phenomena may warrant
the conclusion that each creative "day" was a period of time marked off by a beginning and ending.

Originally posted by rival
Young earth creationists should stay away from bananas because bananas underwent
selective breeding by humans to arrive at where it is today--a perfect fit for the hand. This
fact evinces more support for evolution than creation.

The bible never states the earth is 6000 years old. The idea for this comes from a researcher
who studied the chronological ancestry of humans that is provided in the bible. He added up
the lifetimes and came to the (irrelevant) conclusion that the earth is 6000 years old---rather than
the (relevant) conclusion that humans have been around (on earth) for 6000 years

The earth (and all of Sol's planets--hello Neptune, sorry 'bout the demotion) was formed by
coalescing clouds of dust over a long period of time. It was an arbitrary process whereby
one forming planet could be smashed by another forming planet and have all the
pieces scattered out into space only to have gravity bring them together again.

The current theory of our moon is that it was created by (the last) cosmic smashing of
our earth and another forming planet which occurred with just enough force to separate
a large portion from the whole without spinning it out into space and this small piece became
a satellite of the larger planet.

So God said let there be light and the Big Bang happened, right? Nope it is more likely that
God said let there be matter and energy...and light occurred as a consequence some time
later.

Great, now I've lost my train of thought....where was I?

Oh yeah.....bananas

I don't really like bananas

edit on 16-11-2012 by rival because: (no reason given)

What if god made a noise that made created and made strings vibrate to create the mass that became the big bang? My guess would be that the noise made
was ohm or ong on a scale that have not been created after that.

Originally posted by Awen24
I've been both a Christian, and a Creationist, for over 25 years, and never in my life have I heard anybody say that fossils are put there to "test
our faith".

I'm starting to think this is a line Christians use when the heat is felt...

Growing up that's all every Christian ever talked about when dinosaurs were in the same sentence.
No dinosaurs, fossils are placed by Satan as a way of testing your faith.

25 years and you've never heard it? I'm 22 and I heard it FOR YEARS.

I am 39, have lived in the bible belt all my life and not heard it put that way. I have heard that there are things we are not meant to understand
yet, or that dinosaurs were destroyed in the flood.

On another note, I stated earlier that many people get the 6 thousand years by adding up the genealogies in the bible, not from the six days of
creation.
I am not sure how old the earth is but I am pretty sure it is much older than 6k years.
The bible gives a clear outline of events and even coincides with biology.

Originally posted by Awen24
I've been both a Christian, and a Creationist, for over 25 years, and never in my life have I heard anybody say that fossils are put there to "test
our faith".

I'm starting to think this is a line Christians use when the heat is felt...

Growing up that's all every Christian ever talked about when dinosaurs were in the same sentence.
No dinosaurs, fossils are placed by Satan as a way of testing your faith.

25 years and you've never heard it? I'm 22 and I heard it FOR YEARS.

I am 39, have lived in the bible belt all my life and not heard it put that way. I have heard that there are things we are not meant to understand
yet, or that dinosaurs were destroyed in the flood.

On another note, I stated earlier that many people get the 6 thousand years by adding up the genealogies in the bible, not from the six days of
creation.
I am not sure how old the earth is but I am pretty sure it is much older than 6k years.
The bible gives a clear outline of events and even coincides with biology.

Dino's where only still possible while there was a water canopy. That increased something like the air pressure or something like that. Allowing
bigger animals to walk and also explains why men lived like close to a 1000 years old. After noah the water canopy came down. That also got rid of the
dino's. The dino's are talked about in the bible as well btw. simple google search will find you that.

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